Guest Post: How to Market Your Small Business on a Small Budget

Advertising is an important aspect of any business strategy, especially when it comes to small businesses. As a small business owner, you need to figure out how to promote your company and get the consumers’ attention. Although this can sometimes require a lot of investment, you can still find low-cost, but effective marketing ideas for getting your business to the top. Owning a start-up means a lot of expenses and a limited budget, so you’ll be happy to hear that some of the following advertising options won’t cost you at all.

Creating a Professional Website

Nowadays, it’s impossible to expand and advertise your business without going online and building a website. Even if you don’t possess all the necessary skills, this has never been easier! All you need to do is find a free website builder and you’re good to go. If you really have no idea what you’re doing, you can either browse the Internet for a tutorial, or seek help from your friends, since the chances are that one of them will know how to create a website. Just one additional tip – when you get down to business, make sure not to build a website that is too complex to use, but follow the principle “the easier, the better”.

Starting a Blog

Another marketing strategy that anyone can afford is blogging. Similarly to creating a website, even if you don’t have experience in the area, you can easily find guides for starting a business blog. Once you start blogging, you should try to be consistent and publish on a regular basis. Feel free to write about various topics, from business-related to entertaining. This is a perfect opportunity to keep your customers up-to-date and in touch with you.

Joining Social Media

Social media play an important role in advertising, and, according to the statistics, 97 percent of the global businesses use social media for marketing. Depending on the nature of your business, you can create a profile on a variety of different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. Once again, you should be active and post different materials regularly; otherwise, you’ll be forgotten in the sea of other posts.

Running Facebook Ads

The estimates show that there are more than 1.79 billion Facebook users who are active on a monthly basis, which makes Facebook a prolific platform for marketing. You don’t need a lot of investment for running a Facebook ad – with a limited budget you can reach out to consumers who differ in gender, age, education and interests. Even if they don’t immediately contact your company, they might like your page and become your potential consumers.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic approach that has been embraced world-wide. This marketing strategy differs from the others in that it focuses on creating interesting and relevant material, rather than simply promoting a product or a service. This way, you are able to address the problems and issues of your customers and help them find the solutions. The key feature of this marketing approach is content, so make sure that yours is interesting, of high quality and based on credible information.

Posting Commercials

You don’t need to create high-budget commercials in order to gain public attention. All you need is creativity and a well-developed plan, and the rest is just following the steps. Just find decent equipment, develop a scenario and start filming. During post-production, you can add some filters or cut out the parts that you don’t like. Afterwards, you can upload the commercial to YouTube. This won’t cost you a dime, and, with little effort, your commercial can go viral!

Producing an Email Newsletter

This is a great way of staying in touch with your current customers and contacting the potential ones. However, make sure not to send them ads; otherwise, your email will end up as a spam. Instead, inform your customers about the latest happenings and provide them with valuable information. You want to establish a relationship that will make them think of you when they need your type of product.

Distributing Flyers and Business Cards

Distribution of printed material is a great opportunity for promoting your business locally. This is another strategy that doesn’t require a sizeable amount of money. You can develop your own design for flyers and business cards and opt for custom printing to create unique material. When it comes to distribution, you can hire some students to hand out the material, or you can do it yourself with the help of your friends and family if you have enough time.

Joining LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great business platform where you can connect with other companies and potential business associates. You can form a LinkedIn Group with the businesses from the same industry and share your interests. Additionally, you can even use this platform for posting about job openings and recruiting employees.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on promoting your business as long as you use some of these strategies efficiently. Find out which marketing approaches work for you and then focus on implementing them in a creative and innovative manner.

Emma Miller is a Sydney based writer with a degree in marketing. Interested in digital marketing, social media, start-ups and latest trends. She’s a contributor at Bizzmark blog.

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